Sword Art Online Arya's Tale
by Zedu
Summary: Arya is a gifted 16 year old gamer girl who loves RPG games. However, when she is trapped inside SAO she learns to appreciate new things. New friends and New Possibilties.
1. The Beginning

**_Hey Everybody. Thanks for taking the time to check out my Story. I'm still an aspiring writer with much to be learned. So please, leave your criticism, just be nice please. I'm still learning. I hope you enjoy!_**

"Thanks mom, love ya," I call to my mom as I bound up the stairs to my room. "Your welcome Arya, just don't get stuck in there," my mother calls back. _Yup, that's me, Arya. Just your typical 16 year old girl, except not at all. I am definitely not one to sit on the phone for hours talking to my "BFF" about makeup and boys. For all intents and purposes, I might as well be a boy. I never was interested in Barbies or any "girly" toys. I wanted G.I. Joes, toy guns, and anything Sci-Fi. But anyways, present me is getting distracted, back to the past me._

I slam the door behind me and take a brief look around. The white walls, plastered with posters of military jets and Sci-Fi TV shows. A tall bookshelf, filled with Sci-Fi novels and science magazines. However, I waste no more time. I check my computer, sitting across the room on an old wooden desk, to be sure my VR program has fully loaded. I am rewarded with an open window informing me I may begin when ready. I fall back onto my bed and slide the NerveGear onto my head. I lay flat on my back, getting as comfortable as possible and utter the two most influential words of my life. "Link Start!"

I watch halfheartedly as a series of connection tests are run, ensuring a stable connection to both my brain and my computer a few feet away. Again, I wait patiently as a series of multi colored beams of light run by where I assume my face would be, finally loading a Character creation room. "Wait a second." I gasp as I realize the extent of this VR. I slowly move my arm up in front of my face and look at my hand. The moment it crosses my vision, I laugh excitedly and jump up and down several times. "This is so cool." I exclaim as a menu opens up in front of me. Cautiously, I walk forward to the menu, lowering my hand down. As I reach the floating menu a screen appears with a familiar face upon it. I gaze up into the same old tan skinned face, mine. _My father was white and my mother was African-American so I ended up a healthy mix._ I scan over my face, the same old deep brown eyes and small nose. My whole face has the small motif going for it, hell, my whole body does. I look again at the menu and notice it only contains one option. "Customize? Y/N?" "I like my own face, but thanks." I say, reaching down and pressing no. That box disappears and is quickly replaced by another. The box contains a large blank with the word "Username" above it. I laugh quietly, reaching up and tapping the box to open a keyboard. I quickly and deftly type in "Arya" muttering to myself about the idiots who will give themselves ridiculous names. I reach over towards the "enter" button, but hesitate for a moment. I laugh and say to myself "Come on Arya, it's not like it could kill you." I press the button and the entire menu vanishes and my sight goes black. A series of silver letters appear one by one in front of me. "Welcome to Sword Art Online" The letters disappear and in a burst of light I find myself somewhere new. I look down at myself, confused. I'm not wearing my usual tshirt and jeans. Instead, I find myself wearing a thin, pale blue shirt, layered over by a thin copper breastplate. I also notice I am wearing a matching pair of pale blue shorts. I also look to my right side and notice a sheathed shortsword strapped around my waist. After I have spent enough time becoming acquainted with my new clothes, I look up and gasp. I stand in the middle of a large circular city square, the ground made of bricks. The plaza has brick roadways extending out in every direction, with large Roman arches extending high over them. The brick work is beautiful and I feel as though I stand in the middle of the world. I continue to look around, taking in the view all around me and daydreaming until I am able to snap myself out of it. I quickly open my menu and look in my inventory. _"Starters Chest piece. Starters Shorts. Starters Blade."_ I laugh and mutter to myself, "Very Creative Kayaba." I set my self upon a direction and head off, heading deeper into the so called "Town of Beginnings." I quickly find a shop and attempt to purchase a better weapon, even if only a little better. I ask the shopkeeper to see their wares, and I am immensely surprised by the realism with which the NPC acts. She greets me with a friendly "Hello" and when I ask about her wares a menu appears, showing her wares. It's a long list, ranging from chest pieces to potions to weapons. I quickly sell her my starting blade and look through her weapons, trying to decide my play style. After the sale, I only have 1,500 Col, and so I must be frugal. I look though her list and eventually decide upon a medium length sword meant to be adaptable to any situation. The entire sword is a pale red with a basic cross guard. After purchasing my new blade I quickly head for the fighting fields outside the city. After all, I'm going to need all the EXP I can earn, If I want to be the best swordsmen in Aincrad. And nobody will stop me…


	2. Chapter 2 A Cruel Twist

**Welcome to Chapter 2 of Arya's Tale. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara, Aniplex USA, and A1 Pictures. I hold no ownership or claim any ownership.**

I exhale a deep breath, sheathing my sword, as the _Frenzy Boar_ explodes into a mess of blue crystals fading away into nothing. I smirk and look up at my HP bar, resting in the high green, near my level. I laugh, surprised to see I'm already lvl 10. I open my Skill chart and distribute my points, allotting most of them to Str and the others to Vit and Agi.

"Hey there," sounds a sudden voice from behind me. I spin around, partially drawing my blade to face the voice. The moment I turn around I freeze, staring into the light grey eyes of a handsome man with long black hair. I take a quick look up and down, taking a look at his gear. He is equipped with a grey shirt over layered by a leather chest piece and a long sword over his shoulder. "Uh… Hi?" I reply, somewhat concerned. The other player smirks and then his eyes widen, "Oh sorry, I'm Kirito," he says as he looks away, acting embarrassed. I smile and reply to him "It's okay, I'm Arya."

"I was just noticing your swordsmanship. You're very good"

"Well thanks, but I sorta need to get going. My parents will expect me back soon."

"Ah okay, I'll see you around. I guess."

I smile and swipe my left hand down to open my menu to log out, but suddenly intake a deep breath of air. Kirito stops and turns to look at me, "What's wrong, Arya?"

I hesitate a moment and respond. "The log-out button… It's gone."

Kirito also hesitates for a moment before swiping open his menu. "What? Where is it?"

I close my menu, turning to face Kirito. "I was worried about this… I was scared it would glitch and trap us…"

Kirito takes a step towards me and closes his menu. "Hey. I'm sure it will be okay. After all. The game is just out of beta right? There is bound to be glitches in the system."

As I start to say something I see blue lines tracing up around both Kirito and I out of the edge of my vision. I look up at Kirito to see us suddenly change scenery, now standing in the middle of the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings. The plaza is filled to the brim with other players, all panicking over the loss of the log-out feature. I prepare to say something to Kirito but notice the sky changing, all of the tiles rapidly changing into a bright red warning message. I look back at Kirito to see him staring into the sky, his mouth hanging open. I look back and see what appears to be large streams of blood pouring from the sky. Slowly the blood slows and ceases to pour, the blood mingles together and forms a massive red robed figure. The figure extends its arms out, preparing to speak.

"Hello Players," the figure speaks in a booming voice, "Welcome to Sword Art Online, and Aincrad. I am Akihiko Kayaba, the game master of Sword Art Online. As many of you may have noticed, the log-out button is no longer available. This is not a malfunction. I repeat, this is not a malfunction. This is an intended feature of Sword Art Online." I take a quick look at Kirito and see his face twisted in an expression of anger and his hands clenched into fists. I gaze back up to Kayaba, grinding my teeth. "In addition, if anyone outside the game attempts to forcibly log out a player. The NerveGear headset will kill the player. Already, 128 players have been deleted from both Aincrad and real life. News outlets have extensively warned people on the outside, so the risk of a force log-out is relatively low. The only way to beat Sword Art Online and escape, is to defeat all 100 floor bosses. After you defeat the first boss, the second floor will become available to you. Defeat the 100th floor boss, and the remaining players will be able to escape from Aincrad. I wish you all good luck. Oh, and I have left you all a present in your inventory. Have fun."

With the final utterance from Kayaba, his figure begins to steam and melts back into blood and pours back through the sky box. The moment the blood disappears, Kirito and I both open our inventories. In spite of the situation, I laugh. "A mirror. Really?" I tap it and it appears in my hand. I look down and see my same old face and the mirror shatters, vanishing. I look around and see hundreds of other players being surrounded by a veil of blue light, including Kirito. As soon as the light fades, I notice many players are not their original look. I look over at Kirito and notice he has changed also, his face has become much more feminine and his hair is a good bit shorter. He gives me a surprised look, grabbing my hand and dragging me along, whispering to me, "Come with me, quickly." I follow along, not struggling as he quickly navigates through alleyways and streets, all eerily empty and quiet.

After some time, I stop, pulling on Kirito's arm hard. He stops and partially turns to face me, "What's wrong?"

"Where are we going?" I ask, putting my weight onto one hip.

Kirito fully turns to face me, and looks at me seriously. "I'm going to the next Village, I need to keep ahead of the rest of the players. The amount of EXP and Col is limited, once the starter fields are picked clean of quests, the other players will start moving outwards. You're welcome to come with me if you'd like."

I hesitate for a moment, knowing my choice will more than likely have a great impact on my future inside this game. So, I choose. "Ah, to hell with it. I'm coming with you. Let's go."

Kirito smiles and says to me, "Then let's get going..."

 ** _Well that's it for Chapter 2. Thanks for reading. Leave a review telling me what you think. I know this chapter is basically a copy of canon, but it had to happen. So thanks again for reading!_**


	3. Chapter 3 Time to Fight

**Hey everybody, Zedu is here and it is time for chapter 3. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Leave a review telling me what you think and favorite if you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading!**

 ** _Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara, Aniplex USA, and A1 pictures. I do not hold nor claim to hold any ownership._**

I continue along after Kirito as wind our way through the Town Of Beginnings and into the starter fields. I stay a few paces behind him as we exit into the fields, not slowing a bit. We continue running until a pack of Dire Wolves jump onto the path, forcing us to a halt. Kirito and I stand beside each other, drawing our blades. I laugh and whisper to Kirito, "You certainly know how to show a girl a fun time. I mean seriously, five dire wolves?"

He laughs back sarcastically and replies, "Haha, because a death game is totally my idea of a good time."

"Well, I'm trying to not think about that right now. We sorta have more pressing priorities."

I charge forward, rushing the wolves before Kirito can respond. The moment I begin running Kirito follows close behind and the Dire Wolves counter-charge at us. I move my sword to my side, the blade enveloping in the pale blue veil of the sword skill _Vertical._ Just before we collide with the wolves I release the skill, sending an upwards vertical slash straight across the side of the closest Dire Wolf. The wolf is sent several feet into the air before freezing and exploding into blue crystals. I look to Kirito and see a similar sight of exploding crystals. We both quickly spin and face the three remaining wolves, including the Alpha.

"I'll handle the alpha, you get the other two." I say

"Sounds good to me."

We charge again and the wolves seem to split, the alpha heading for me and the remaining two for Kirito. I smirk, preparing another sword skill, my blade lighting up with a crimson red. _Uppercut._ I look to the alpha and see it is much close than the other dire wolves. _It's faster. Hmph, too bad for it, it will only die faster._ Just before the wolf reaches me, I dodge to the side and let my sword skill loose. My blade swings up, connecting with the Dire Wolf Alpha's stomach and slicing clean through. The Alpha lands on its back hard, the small remnant of its HP draining away and exploding into crystals. I look over to Kirito, finishing the last wolf with a _Slant_.

"Good work, but we should probably keep going. Right?"

He looks over at me and sighs, "Yep, you bet. We are gonna have to fight that Mini-Boss eventually."

"Hold up, you didn't tell me we were fighting a Mini-Boss. Explain. Now."

"Whoa, calm down. It will be super easy. Not a big deal."

"Better question, how do you even know there is a Mini-Boss? Were you a beta tester?"

Kirito frowns, "Yes, one of the best actually. I made it to the 8th floor."

"Wow, guess I should have some form of trust then huh?"

"If you didn't trust me, then you were stupid to come along with me. Now let's get going."

I mumble a complaint and we continue on our way, heading for Horunka village. We encounter a few mobs but easily send them back to the spawning pool and Kirito fills me in about the boss along the way.

"According to the beta test the boss is called the Moonlit Oose. It is essentially a giant magical ostrich. I believe it is roughly 12 to 13 feet tall and pretty slow. It uses its wing to blow gusts of wind or will attempt to peck you or claw you. It has a weak point on its neck that will deal large damage. It has two HP bars and when the second bar is in the red it becomes much faster than before. One of us will keep the Boss distracted while the other goes for a critical hit on the neck. Once a successful crit occurs the boss will switch targets. We'll keep this up until we defeat it. Sound like a plan?"

I run over the plan in my mind a few times before I respond. "Yeah, I got it. So who is going first as the distracter?"

Kirito stops and looks at me, "I don't know. You want to duel for it? First clean hit loses and the loser is the distraction first. You up for it?"

I smirk and reply, "Only if you are ready to go down, pretty boy."

Kirito's eyes widen and he looks at me in shock. "Well, I have never been called that before. And I'm not sure what to think. So let's just fight already. Remember, no sword skills. Pure swordsmanship."

I flick open my menu and send Kirito the duel request, setting it to first hit mode. "Then let's go… Pretty boy."

Kirito flinches and accepts the duel, a timer appearing above us, counting down from 60 as we both draw our blades and set ourselves in defensive stances. I take a look over Kirito's stance as the clock reaches 30 seconds, his left foot set back and most of his weight set on his forward foot. His blade held in front of him, slightly tilted to the right.

 _He's going to charge me. Probably go for a diagonal slash across my chest. I wonder if my STR stat is high enough to get a full parry on him._

The timer strikes zero and Kirito does exactly as I predicted. I raise my blade to meet his with equal force, unable to completely parry him back. His eyes widen, surprised by my Strength. I shove my blade hard and jump back, settling into my defensive position. Kirito, braces again and charges me going for a thrust. I quickly spin to the side and swing around after him, missing by mere inches. I charge for Kirito, taking the offensive and catch him unprepared. I feint a downward diagonal swing up high right and quickly switch to a thrust. Kirito falls for my feint moving his blade up to block but not noticing my sudden thrust until he is too late to block it. He barely dodges to the side, my blade barely scratching him. He jumps back, several feet away.

"I'm impressed Arya." He says, breathing heavier. "You are really good."

I smirk, not lowering my guard or my blade even a bit. "Thanks Kirito, I try. But enough chatter, let's finish this already."

I rush Kirito, my blade meeting his. He looks at me from across our blades and I smirk as I kick him in the chest and he goes flying back a few feet as I charge towards him, going for a hasty swing. My blade connects with his leg, sending his HP to the middle range and winning me the duel.

I sheath my blade and walk over to Kirito, reaching my hand down to help him up. He takes my hand and I pull him up to his feet, setting an HP potion into his hand. He drinks it and his HP begins to slowly raise back up towards full.

"I… I'm impressed. I really am. You just stomped me."

"I'm sure there will be another time, now let's go. We have an Oose to kill."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

We continue along the path heading to Horunka village with a new appreciation of the other player's skill…

 **Well, that's it. Chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed it. I decided to actually write some fighting this time. Normally I try to avoid it because I'm not too great at it. But I went for it. So yeah. Thanks for reading, and I will see you all later!**


	4. Chapter 4 The Moonlight Oose

**Hey everybody, Zedu here. Welcome to chapter 4. If you have any recommendations or comments, leave a review for me and I will get back to you when I can. Thanks for reading.**

 ** _Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara, Aniplex USA, and A1 pictures. I do not hold nor claim to hold any ownership._**

"So, I know it is Taboo to talk about the real world in here. But, I don't barely know you and I'm about to trust you with my life against a Mini-boss. So, we should probably get to know at least a little bit about each other," I say to Kirito as we continue down the path, entering into a lightly wooded area.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replies, not even looking in my direction.

"Are you still mad over that duel?" I question as I walk in front of him and stop in my tracks.

"Mad? No, I'm not mad. Curious however, yes I am. I want to know how you could predict my movements so accurately. Every move I made you seemed to know in advance, like you were in my head. So how did you do it?"

"Ah, yeah. Well, I wasn't in your head. That's for sure."

"Then how did you do it?'"

"Well, even if I wanted to tell you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Whatever, let's just get going. Just a little deeper into these woods is where the boss will spawn," Kirito says as he continues walking, going right past me.

I follow after him treading on eggshells, pushing deeper into the woods. _I can't afford to make him hate me. He is my best chance for survival. Just because I have that, ability, doesn't mean I should use it. I could become the greatest duelist in the game, but at what cost? If anyone found out, I would be called a cheater and everyone would hate me. Including him. Kirito already is mad at me…_

A sudden shout draws me from my daydreaming, "ARYA! WAKE UP AND GET GOING!"

I jump back to reality and see Kirito with his blade drawn, and a massive ostrich stretching its neck out ahead of him. I draw my blade as a name and two HP bars appear. **The Legendary Moonlight Oose. Level 15.** Kirito and I brace to attack until several beams of blue light appear, summoning several smaller versions of the boss. **Minions of the Oose.** I shout to Kirito, "I'll deal with the minions, you keep the boss distracted. I'm thinking this boss is a little more powerful the normal"

"That's because it spawned as a legendary, it will be faster, stronger, and tougher. But I like your plan. I'll keep it distracted." he shouts back.

I rush the minions and quickly dispatch the first on by slicing through its neck. I roll under what I thought was going to be a peck from the next minion, but suddenly I am slammed with a kick from the Minion and thrown back several feet. I get back to my feet and look at my HP bar and see it resting in the high yellow.

 _Sunuva, that's new._

"Kirito," I call out "watch out. The minions can kick, so I think the boss can too."

Kirito nods in response and I move to the next Minion, slashing across its chest and jumping back to avoid it's kick. I move my sword to my side and my blade lights up a pale green. **Sword Skill: Sonic Leap.** I feel the system kick in and I suddenly dash forward at high speed and hit the remaining minion with a downward strike, the minion shattering to pieces nearly instantly. I look over and see Kirito frozen in post-motion delay, unable to avoid an impending attack from the Oose.

 _I'm going to have to use it. Kirito will die if I don't do it. Even then, I may not be able to reach him, could I throw my sword? Ah hell, let's go for it._

I activate my ability and time slows to a crawl. I slowly turn so I am facing the Oose, drawing my sword behind my back. I throw my arm forward, releasing my blade and watching it slowly spin towards the boss. The blade impacts perfectly into the Oose's neck, and buries itself deep. I return time to normal and dash for the oose as it rears back from the sudden pain. I jump high up onto the Oose and slow time once again, grabbing my sword and slicing it out of the Oose's neck. I move my blade to my side and it lights up with pale blue. **Sword Skill: Horizontal.** The system takes control and my blade slices clean through the neck of the Oose, nailing the critical spot, and it's 1st HP bar empties entirely and the second moves into the deep red.

I return time to normal, and try to jump of the Oose but I find myself stuck in the post-motion delay. _Oh crap… bad bad bad._

I see out of the corner of my eyes, Kirito comes running in and delivers a strike to the Boss' chest depleting its HP to nearly zero. In the moment, I feel the control return to my body and I stab my blade deep into the bird, emptying its HP entirely. The bird shatters into crystals and data and I land on the ground, kneeling on one knee. Kirito runs to me and asks, "What the.. What was that?"

I try to respond, but pass out into a world of darkness….

 ** _Several Hours Later_**

I slowly open my eyes and see a wood roof. I slowly lean up look around, taking in my new surroundings. I am laying on a bed in the corner of the room, Kirito is sitting at a table in the middle of the room looking though his menu. There is a door on the other side of where Kirito sits and a window with the curtains drawn beside me.

"I have two questions," I say with a shaky voice, still not awake.

Kirito jumps a little, closing his menu with a quiet laugh. "And what are those?"

"One, where am I? And two, how did I get here?"

"Horunka Village. I carried you here. After you passed out fighting **The Moonlight Oose."**

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really. And you should check your inventory. That boss dropped a last attack bonus."

"Hmm, okay." I say as I flick open my menu. I open my misc category but see nothing new. Next I try my aid menu, but again. I find nothing new. Finally I flick open my apparel menu and fins something new. **Cloak of Moonlight.** The item description reads, "This cloak is imbued with special power. The nature of which is known only to the creator." I stand up and hit equip and a long dark blue cloak appears on my shoulders, with two grey stripes down the back. I read the stats and see that it increases all of my stats by +1. In addition, that effect doubles while I am in a boss room.

"Holy moly. This is amazing."

"I know, you should feel lucky. I would have had it if you hadn't got the final strike. But oh well, I got a new blade. Anneal Blade. I already had it enhanced to +2. It took me a whole two days."

"Wait, TWO DAYS!?"

"Yeah, you have been out of it for a while…"

"And you didn't tell me this beforehand, why?"

"I didn't think It was a big concern…" He replies as he starts to back away towards the door.

"Not a big concern my butt," I say, "Get over here."

I jump up and chase after him as he runs out the door…

 ** _Poor Kirito, he should have told her earlier… Anyways, thanks for reading. Hope to see you guys next time._**


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